You're not a failure

Can't decide if Mental Health Awareness Week has become so generic that it's lost all of its resonance?! 

What do you think? 

Corporations posting "commitments" on their website that remain firmly words, rather than action. 

Or brands trying to commercialise "the Sad Girl" aesthetic, selling slogan t-shirts announcing "Overthinking, Overstimulated, Overwhelmed".

To quote the Guardian journalist Chloe Mac Donnell, "It all goes to prove that, as with everything else, even psychological wellbeing can be commodified."

And yet, the research shows we need proper conversations about managing our psychological state more than ever. 

In this country, the leading cause of death for women in the first year of motherhood, specifically between six weeks and one year after giving birth, is maternal suicide. 

This time last year, I wrote a newsletter about medication like Sertraline or Citalopram. It felt important to say that sometimes doing all the 'right things' (exercising regularly, eating well, investing in therapy) doesn't touch the sides and seeking medical help is an act of strength, not failure. 

I'd like to reiterate that message, if you've started or perhaps returned to that journey in 2025. I see you and please know that there is a whole network of incredible women walking that path, right next to you. 

NB xx

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